Fifth footnote to the post titled “Guilty as Charged”

But if we could sum up the Cold War between Washington and Moscow into a basic or underlying concept, it would be to keep limited wars such as the one in Ukraine limited. Why? Because “total victory” is no longer possible, as Kissinger noted. Thus, limited wars mean limited outcomes, namely, limited victory, limited defeat and loss, or stalemate. But how do you keep limited wars limited? After all, there is always the possibility of miscalculation and misinterpretation which would then lead to everything spiraling out of control. It’s all psychological. As Kissinger noted, there are three ways of keeping a limited war limited. For one, you cannot have weak nerves and weak and corrupt leaders, and leaders have to find ways of putting pressure on the other side short of total war. Second, national survival cannot be at stake. And third, you have to convince the public that national survival is not at stake. But most importantly, the side which commits the most or is focused the most on a particular location will win the limited war. Russia is more committed and focused on Ukraine than NATO is. That is a fact. As a result, Russia will always have the advantage in Ukraine. In fact, and over the course of time, there will be fewer and fewer locations for limited war available for the United States which will be worth the price. That is a bitter fact and the bitter reality for the United States.